Editor's Review

  • Economist David Ndii addresses the issue of unrest in schools and whether corporal punishment is needed.
  • He further revealed how he as a teenager in high school occasionally smoked bhang.

Economist David Ndii has condemned Knut Chairman Wilson Sossion call to introduce canning in schools as an attempt to discipline students.

In a series of Tweets, Ndii noted that in traditional African societies children were not canned as an attempt to discipline them.

"I don’t know about others, but in traditional Kikuyu society, children were not beaten. Corporal punishment is a legacy of colonial violence. Where are our homophobic traditional values warriors when we need them?" Ndii opined.

"That's precisely my point. “Discipline” did not exist. Discipline is a feature of a master-servant relationship. In a free society, nobody is obliged to obey another," he added.

Taming Students

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A tweep named Geoffrey Nyakang'o asked Ndii then how will students who are indiscipline and have been found with illegal substances such as Marijuana be punished.

In his response, Ndii revealed that he had smoked cannabis during his high school days and went on to pass his exams.

"Marijuana was criminalized by colonialists. It follows that if we decriminalize it, the crime of smoking bhang will cease to exist. I smoked bhang occasionally in secondary school (age 12-16), still topped my school in O-Level exams. #LegalizeMarijuana," he replied.

The conversation stemmed from the ongoing debate on whether to introduce corporal punishment in schools following multiple cases of violence in learning institutions.

Violence in Schools

Education task forces have called for streamlining of boarding schools and establishing guidance and counselling departments.

The government is in a spot for failing to fully implement task force reports that proposed solutions to end student’s unrest.

A detailed account by the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) exposed the government’s laxity to act on fires that have led to the loss of property and learning time.

Kuppet listed three latest reports that it argued came up with far-reaching proposals critical in addressing student’s unrest.

The DCI said they are archiving and consolidating charges, which may be preferred to each and every student involved in any crime.

The criminal charges will be reflected on clearance certificates and certificates of good conduct when such rioting learners apply for one.